OXFORD have banned their county star Harvey Eltham for five matches following an incident in their Home Counties Premier League Division 1 match at Finchampstead last Saturday, writes MICHAEL KNOX.

Eltham is reported to have shown dissent when given out lbw for nought and then thrown his bat on the way back to the pavilion.

This was deemed to be a level two offence under the ECB’s disciplinary guidelines and Oxford themselves issued the ban for five matches, two of which are suspended.

So Eltham will miss Oxford’s next three league games, including tomorrow’s trip to High Wycombe.

On Thursday, the Oxford Mail were told that Eltham was missing the match due to a back complaint.

Yesterday Oxford skipper John Barrett confirmed that the all-rounder had been suspended.

“Harvey admits that he did wrong and has accepted the punishment,” said the skipper, who added that the player has “a sore back”.

Peter O’Neill, the HCPL’s disciplinary secretary, said that because Oxford had issued the ban themselves, there was no need for the league to take action.

“The punishment for a level two offence is between four to eight matches.”

“Because Oxford’s punishment was in those guidelines, we did not need to get involved.”

Eltham also misses Oxfordshire’s three-day Unicorns Counties Championship match against Dorset starting in Bournemouth tomorrow.

O’Neill explained: “Although the ban is for league matches, the player cannot play any in ECB competition during the period of the suspension.”

l BURNHAM have been docked 50 points for an incident during their match against Finchampstead two weeks ago and are now well adrift at the bottom of the HCPL Division 1.

The Bucks club had a suspended 50-point penalty hanging over them from last season. It was triggered by what O’Neill called “a level three offence of racial abuse”.

Burnham have thrown the player concerned – Mohammed Faisal Khalid – out of the club.